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Of the 32,675 Americans killed in motor-vehicle crashes in 2014, just under 10 percent—3179—died in accidents attributed to distracted driving. Smartphones, vehicle multimedia systems, and a host of other stimuli regularly draw drivers’ attention. Attempting to help their customers stay focused on the road, automakers are adding and expanding the availability of features such as steering-wheel-mounted controls, Bluetooth, voice commands, head-up displays, and more. Still, not every car or truck comes equipped with all of these features. That’s where Navdy steps in.
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Navdy is an aftermarket head-up-display system that mounts to your car or truck’s dashboard. Information from the vehicle’s onboard diagnostic port, such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fuel level, is fed to the display, projecting data in an area in an area about 3.5 inches wide within the driver’s line of sight.
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Putting the Nav in Navdy
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At $799, Navdy isn’t cheap. Still, the company, which only began shipping units to customers a few months ago, is clearly on to something. It has managed to raise almost $27 million in four rounds of funding, according to Crunchbase. Even more telling: The first investment that vehicle electronics supplier Harman made after being acquired by Samsung was in Navdy.
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To make the most of Navdy, you’ll need to connect your smartphone to the unit via Bluetooth and download the Navdy app on either Google Play or the Apple App Store, as navigation destinations must be entered through the app. Although Navdy equips each of its units with a built-in navigation chip and antenna, the unit relies on Google Maps for route guidance. This is a boon for iPhone users who are Google Maps fans, since in-car navigation with Apple CarPlay is limited to Apple Maps, which have not caught up with Google’s pioneering product.
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We installed a Navdy unit in our long-term Honda Civic Touring sedan, a vehicle equipped with its own factory-installed navigation system. Due to this, we were able to compare and contrast Navdy’s navigation system with our Civic Touring‘s manufacturer-backed unit. Generally, Navdy went toe to toe with the Civic’s system; however, the aftermarket HUD occasionally hesitated to reroute our path if we missed a turn, while our Civic adapted almost instantly.
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Nevertheless, Navdy’s ability to display both a full map and directional arrows in the driver’s line of sight meant that we rarely went off route. The Civic’s navigation system, like many factory units, only displays directional arrows in its gauge cluster, an area that can be viewed peripherally but is not directly in the driver’s line of sight. (A full map is displayed in the Civic’s center-stack screen, which requires a glance away from the road for however long it takes the user to read it.) For what it’s worth, a number of new cars and trucks now display directional instructions and a full map within the gauge cluster; however, all manufacturers can benefit by adding this function to their vehicle’s gauge cluster screens or factory HUD systems.
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Another appreciated feature of Navdy is gesture control. Thanks to a camera located at the front of the unit, Navdy is able to detect if a user is waving his or her hand to the left or to the right. Incoming phone calls, for example, can be accepted with a wave of the left hand or dismissed with a wave of the right hand. Likewise, text messages can be read aloud if the user’s hand gesture signals Navdy to do so. It’s a simple and reliable system that recognized gestures more reliably than the system found in our $96,095 long-term BMW 740i.
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Phoning It In
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Besides giving Navdy users the ability to plug in destinations, pairing a phone to the unit via its Bluetooth system allows users to control their phones’ music library and music applications such as Pandora and Spotify, display push notifications and messages from a number of popular apps (Facebook, WhatsApp, and more), sync calendars and address books, and use Apple’s Siri or Android’s Google Assistant. To gain access to many of these functions, though, you’ll need to use the unit’s control dial. The small dial can be strapped to your steering wheel (you can see it on our Civic’s wheel, just below the right spoke, in the photo above) and communicates with Navdy through the unit’s Bluetooth. A scrolling wheel and center button allow users to parse through menus and change screen settings.
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It’s a simple and intuitive process that was only marred by the death of our dial’s separate battery. While it’s easy enough to replace, the HUD refused to display any vital information during the dial’s downtime. Instead, we were greeted with a screen reminding us to replace the battery. Annoyingly, the message refused to leave until the dial was once again operative.
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Bang for the Buck
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Depending on individual consumer needs, Navdy is either far too pricey or a worthwhile, albeit high-priced, addition to a car or truck. Individuals only looking to keep an eye on basic information such as vehicle speed can find much less expensive aftermarket HUD options already available; however, those looking to keep tabs on an infotainment system’s worth of information without taking their eyes off the road will find that Navdy is a useful piece of technology.
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Navdy’s value is also vehicle dependent. Many on the C/D staff questioned the inherent value of Navdy for our long-term Civic Touring sedan, which came standard with navigation, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto, offering much of the same functional utility as Navdy minus its eye-level location. Nevertheless, if it had been a base Civic LX (a trim that goes without navigation, Apple CarPlay, or Android Auto), Navdy’s features and $799 price would be easier to justify. And for owners of older cars built before such systems were widespread, a Navdy is certainly far less expensive than buying a new car.
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Navdy’s integration of a full map at eye level and its simple but reliable gesture controls are not to be overlooked, either. It’s an aftermarket product that outperforms some of the auto industry’s native technology.
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